In 1977, the team returned to the nearby state of New Jersey and played as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 to 2012. During this time, the Nets won two consecutive Eastern Conference championships (in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons), but failed to win a championship. In the summer of 2012, the team moved to the Barclays Center, and took its current geographic name.[3]

History

The Brooklyn Nets were founded in 1967 and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey, as the New Jersey Americans. In its early years, the team led a nomadic existence, moving to Long Island in 1968 and playing in various arenas there as the New York Nets.[4]

Led by Hall of Famer Julius "Dr. J" Erving, the Nets won two ABA championships in New York before becoming one of four ABA teams to be admitted into the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. The team then moved back to New Jersey in 1977 and became the New Jersey Nets. During their time in that state, the Nets saw periods of losing and misfortune intermittent with several periods of success, which culminated in two consecutive NBA Finals appearances in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons by teams led by point guard Jason Kidd.

After playing 35 seasons in New Jersey, the team moved back to the state of New York, changed its geographic name to Brooklyn, and began playing in the new Barclays Center, starting with the 2012–13 NBA season.[3][5]

Rivalries

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics were once rivals of the Nets during the early 2000s because of their respective locations and their burgeoning stars. The Nets were led by Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, while the Celtics were experiencing newfound success behind Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. The rivalry began to heat up in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, which was preceded by trash-talking from the Celtics[6] who claimed Martin was a "fake" tough guy. Things progressed as the series started, and on-court tensions seemed to spill into the stands. Celtic fans berated Kidd and his family with chants of "Wife Beater!"[7] in response to Kidd's 2001 domestic abuse charge. When the series returned to New Jersey, Nets fans responded, with some brandishing signs that read "Will someone please stab Paul Pierce?"[8] referring to a night club incident in 2000 in which Pierce was stabbed 11 times. When asked about the fan barbs being traded, Kenyon Martin stated, "Our fans hate them, their fans hate us." Bill Walton said at the time that Nets-Celtics was the "beginning of the next great NBA rivalry" during the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002 with the Nets advancing to the NBA Finals, though New Jersey would go on to sweep Boston in the 2003 playoffs.

In 2012, there were indications that the rivalry might be rekindled when an altercation occurred on the court on November 28, resulting in the ejection of Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace, and Kris Humphries. Rondo was suspended for two games in the aftermath, while Wallace and Kevin Garnett were fined.[9] The story was revisited on December 25, when Wallace grabbed Garnett's shorts and the two had to be broken up by referees and players alike.

However, the rivalry between the Nets and the Celtics appeared significantly cooled off by the June 2013 blockbuster trade that dealt Celtics stars Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets in exchange for Wallace, Humphries, and others. This move was billed as a merger of the two Atlantic Division teams.[10] Celtics announcer Sean Grande said "It's almost as if you found a great home for these guys. You couldn't have found a better place. These guys will be in the New York market, they'll be on a competitive team, they'll stay on national TV. It's funny, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So with Celtics fans feeling the way they do about the Heat, feeling the way they do about the Knicks, the Nets are going to become almost the second [Boston] team now."[11]

Toronto Raptors

A rivalry with the Toronto Raptors had begun in 2004, when then-Raptors guard/forward Vince Carter had been traded to the then-New Jersey Nets.[16][17] However, the two teams would not meet in the playoffs until 2007, when the Nets defeated the Raptors in the first round series, 4–2, after a go-ahead shot by Richard Jefferson with 8 seconds left in Game 6 led to a 98–97 victory.[18]Seven years later, the two teams would meet once again in the First Round, where the series would end in Game 7, after a game-winning block by Paul Pierce, giving the Nets the 104–103 victory.[19] The series was also noted for controversy when Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri made derogatory remarks towards Brooklyn at a fan rally outside Maple Leaf Square in Toronto before Game 1. Ujiri later apologized at halftime.[20]

Culture

Mascot

Cover to BrooklyKnight #1, distributed at the Brooklyn Nets home opener. Art by Mike Deodato.

The mascot of the New Jersey Nets was Sly the Silver Fox, who debuted on October 31, 1997 as part of the rebranding of the Nets for the 1997–98 season.[21] Prior to that, the Nets' mascot was an anthropomorphic dragon named Duncan the Dragon.[22]

After the Nets' move to Brooklyn, the team introduced a new superhero mascot named BrooklyKnight (a pun on the demonym "Brooklynite") on November 3, 2012. In his first appearance, he was lowered from the ceiling of the Barclays Center amid sparks and fanfare and introduced by Nets PA announcer David Diamante: "Here to defend Brooklyn, he's the BrooklyKnight." The mascot was co-created by Marvel Entertainment, a sister company to NBA broadcasters ABC and ESPN. The character also starred in 32-page comic book published by Marvel titled BrooklyKnight #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Mike Deodato.[23][24] After the Nets' second season in Brooklyn, the BrooklyKnight mascot was retired.[25]

Team anthem

On November 3, 2012, the Nets introduced a new team anthem titled "Brooklyn: Something To Lean On", written and recorded by Brooklyn-born musician John Forté.[26] The song is notable for its refrain, which features the "Brooklyn" chant that has been popular with fans in Barclays Center.[27]

Ownership history

The original owner of the Nets franchise was trucking magnate Arthur J. Brown, who was the founder of the American Basketball Association team that was then known as the New Jersey Americans in 1967. The next year, Brown renamed the franchise to the New York Nets following a move to Long Island, and sold the team for $1.1 million to entrepreneur Roy Boe.[29] Due to financial losses suffered while the team was in Long Island, Boe moved the team back to New Jersey in 1977 and sold the team a year later to a group of seven local businessmen led by Alan N. Cohen and Joseph Taub, who became known as the "Secaucus Seven".[30]

After a lengthy ownership of the franchise and numerous attempts to improve the financial situation of the team, the "Secaucus Seven" finally sold the team in 1998 to a group of local real estate developers led by Raymond Chambers and Lewis Katz,[31] who called themselves the "Community Youth Organization" (CYO) and wanted to move the team to Newark, New Jersey. The next year the group signed an agreement with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to form YankeeNets, a holding company that would own the two teams, and later also the New Jersey Devils, and increase leverage in future broadcast contracts by negotiating together. After receiving offers from numerous broadcast partners, including what was then their current rights holder Cablevision, YankeeNets decided to launch its own regional sports television called the YES Network.

YankeeNets would ultimately fail in its attempts to secure a deal with Newark to construct a new arena in the city. By that point in time, tensions between the management of the Yankees, Nets, and the Devils had cause a rift between them, and a decision was made to split the group up.[32] With their plan to move the Nets now dead, the CYO placed the team on sale. After a short bidding process, the group secured a deal with real estate developer Bruce Ratner to buy the team for $300 million, defeating a similar offer by Charles Kushner and Senator Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey. Ratner had purchased the team with the intent of moving it to a new arena in Brooklyn, which was to be a centerpiece of the large-scale Atlantic Yards development.[33]

On September 24, 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's third-richest man according to Forbes, confirmed his intention to become majority owner of the Nets. Prokhorov sent an offer to the team owners requesting that the control shareholding of the basketball club be sold to his company, Onexim, for a symbolic price. In return, Prokhorov would fund a loan for the construction of a $700 million arena in Brooklyn and attract additional funds from Western banks. Prokhorov stated that he initiated the deal to help push Russian basketball to a new level of development.[34] On May 11, 2010, following approval from the other owners of the NBA, Prokhorov had become a principal owner of the Nets.[35]

Practice facilities

The Nets' training center, and the headquarters for the team's basketball operations, have been located at the 65,000-square-foot PNY Center in East Rutherford, NJ, since 1998.[36] Prior to that, the team had practiced at the APA Recreation Center in North Bergen, NJ, sharing their lockers and practice courts with truck drivers who used the facility.[36] In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in November 2012, PNY Center suffered power outage and extensive water damage due to flooding, and for several months, the team used the smaller training spaces and practice courts inside the Barclays Center instead.[37]

On June 26, 2014, the Nets announced their intention to move their training center to the Industry City complex in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The new facility, to be known as the Hospital for Special Surgery Training Center (HSS Center), will be built on the roof of an empty warehouse in the complex, occupying 70,000 square feet of space in total. The renovation project will cost roughly $50 million.[38]

Retained draft rights

The Nets hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who isn't signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends.[39] This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.

NBA Development League affiliation

Starting in the 2011–12 season, the Springfield Armor had become the exclusive NBA Development League affiliate of the Nets. This made the Nets the second team to opt for a D-League "hybrid affiliation", the first being the Houston Rockets with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Springfield ownership had maintained control over business, marketing, and day-to-day operations; however, the Brooklyn Nets had control over coaching and player decisions. This hybrid model was well received by GMs and owners.[43] However, after three seasons, the Pistons had purchased the Armor from the Nets, moving and renaming the team as the Grand Rapids Drive.[44]

Media

The television home of the Nets is currently the YES Network, which the team helped create while they were under the corporate umbrella of YankeeNets LLC, a merger of business operations between the Nets and the New York Yankees. After the dissolution of YankeeNets and Bruce Ratner's purchase of the team, YES signed a long-term deal to keep broadcasting Nets games. The sale to the Ratner group did not include the percentage of YES that was previously owned by the Nets, which remains with the pre-merger Nets owners. Prior to that, the Nets' TV home was Fox Sports Net New York and SportsChannel New York.

The team's local broadcast partner is WWOR-TV, and games have aired on WLNY-TV in the past as well.

In the club's early ABA years, some Sunday road games were televised in a package carried by WPIX. The team's later ABA tenure featured more frequent road telecasts on their current broadcast partner, WWOR-TV. Known then as WOR-TV, it continued airing road games for a time once the team joined the NBA in 1976.

Television

Ian Eagle has television duties for the Nets after the departure of Marv Albert in 2011. Eagle became the lead television voice for the team in 1995 after serving as the team's radio voice for one year, while Albert joined the Nets following his firing by MSG Network in 2005 after four decades as the lead voice of the New York Knicks. When Albert joined the broadcast team, he became the lead broadcaster with Eagle as his substitute; beginning in the 2009–10 season, due to Albert's advancing age and his other commitments, Eagle once again assumed the lead play-by-play spot. As of the 2011–12 season, Eagle is the sole lead announcer after Albert decided to move to CBS Sports for both NFL and NCAA basketball, in addition to his work on the NBA on TNT. Ryan Ruocco substitutes for Eagle during the latter's CBS NFL and NCAA commitments.

Joining Eagle in the booth for 2013 are former NBA player and ex-Net Donny Marshall and longtime Nets analyst Jim Spanarkel. Marshall replaced Mike Fratello as the lead analyst following the 2012–13 season and Spanarkel shares duties with him as he has in the past with other announcers.

Radio

WFAN is the Nets' current radio flagship, the station having assumed radio rights from WOR following the 2003–04 season. Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw comprise the broadcast team, Carrino on play-by-play and Capstraw as the analyst.

During the club's ABA years, announcers included Marty Glickman, Marv Albert's brothers Al Albert and Steve Albert, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, Bob Goldsholl, as well as Sterling and DiTomasso. The latter two joined the club's move into the NBA.

↑Coon, Larry. "NBA Salary Cap FAQ – 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement". Retrieved April 13, 2014. If the player is already under contract to, or signs a contract with a non-NBA team, the team retains the player's draft rights for one year after the player's obligation to the non-NBA team ends. Essentially, the clock stops as long as the player plays pro ball outside the NBA.